[PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Bagas Sanjaya]

There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.

Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>
---
 builtin/rev-parse.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/builtin/rev-parse.c b/builtin/rev-parse.c
index 22c4e1a4ff..a35dbad6c4 100644
--- a/builtin/rev-parse.c
+++ b/builtin/rev-parse.c
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ static int cmd_parseopt(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		ALLOC_GROW(usage, unb + 1, usz);
 		if (!strcmp("--", sb.buf)) {
 			if (unb < 1)
-				die(_("no usage string given before the `--' separator"));
+				die(_("no usage string given before the `--` separator"));
 			usage[unb] = NULL;
 			break;
 		}

base-commit: 99c99ed8259bf070cd8ae7b51a94904b7cf5c161
-- 
2.25.1

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Taylor Blau]

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 06:17:45PM +0700, Bagas Sanjaya wrote:
> There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
> given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.

For what it's worth, I think that the `' style is typographic, since the
pair look like English "smart quotes" (as opposed to straight quotes). I
have no opinion about which is better, but I don't think the pre-image
was necessarily a mistake.

Thanks,
Taylor

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Junio C Hamano]

Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:

> On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 06:17:45PM +0700, Bagas Sanjaya wrote:
>> There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
>> given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.
>
> For what it's worth, I think that the `' style is typographic, since the
> pair look like English "smart quotes" (as opposed to straight quotes). I
> have no opinion about which is better, but I don't think the pre-image
> was necessarily a mistake.

I thought that we try to avoid "smart quotes" in our messages.

And we do not expect our users to be expecting to read their error
messages in markdown, so `--` is not a "Fix", either (do we have
many instances of such uses of backticks in messages already?).

Let's just stick to the true and tried pair of single quotes here.

Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Taylor Blau]

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 12:28:22PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:
>
> > On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 06:17:45PM +0700, Bagas Sanjaya wrote:
> >> There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
> >> given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.
> >
> > For what it's worth, I think that the `' style is typographic, since the
> > pair look like English "smart quotes" (as opposed to straight quotes). I
> > have no opinion about which is better, but I don't think the pre-image
> > was necessarily a mistake.
>
> I thought that we try to avoid "smart quotes" in our messages.

I think UTF-8 smart quotes are generally frowned upon in source code,
but I didn't think we had any hard-and-fast rule about whether to prefer
'this' to `that' (for what it's worth, I prefer the former and it seems
to be more common).

> And we do not expect our users to be expecting to read their error
> messages in markdown, so `--` is not a "Fix", either (do we have
> many instances of such uses of backticks in messages already?).

There are many in code comments, but I could only find a handful in
error messages or the description of command-line flags.

Thanks,
Taylor

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason]

On Wed, Sep 22 2021, Taylor Blau wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 12:28:22PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:
>>
>> > On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 06:17:45PM +0700, Bagas Sanjaya wrote:
>> >> There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
>> >> given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.
>> >
>> > For what it's worth, I think that the `' style is typographic, since the
>> > pair look like English "smart quotes" (as opposed to straight quotes). I
>> > have no opinion about which is better, but I don't think the pre-image
>> > was necessarily a mistake.
>>
>> I thought that we try to avoid "smart quotes" in our messages.
>
> I think UTF-8 smart quotes are generally frowned upon in source code,
> but I didn't think we had any hard-and-fast rule about whether to prefer
> 'this' to `that' (for what it's worth, I prefer the former and it seems
> to be more common).

No comment on what's preferred, other than I wish we'd pick a style and
stick to it. Just a note that this used to be the way to do it in
e.g. the GNU guidelines, I see it isn't anymore though: [1].

1. https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html#Quote-Characters-1

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Taylor Blau]

On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 09:59:51PM +0200, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 22 2021, Taylor Blau wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 12:28:22PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> >> Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:
> >>
> >> > On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 06:17:45PM +0700, Bagas Sanjaya wrote:
> >> >> There is a quoting mismatch quoting `--` separator in "no usage string
> >> >> given...." message (`' instead of ``). Fix it.
> >> >
> >> > For what it's worth, I think that the `' style is typographic, since the
> >> > pair look like English "smart quotes" (as opposed to straight quotes). I
> >> > have no opinion about which is better, but I don't think the pre-image
> >> > was necessarily a mistake.
> >>
> >> I thought that we try to avoid "smart quotes" in our messages.
> >
> > I think UTF-8 smart quotes are generally frowned upon in source code,
> > but I didn't think we had any hard-and-fast rule about whether to prefer
> > 'this' to `that' (for what it's worth, I prefer the former and it seems
> > to be more common).
>
> No comment on what's preferred, other than I wish we'd pick a style and
> stick to it. Just a note that this used to be the way to do it in
> e.g. the GNU guidelines, I see it isn't anymore though: [1].

I agree. But for what it's worth, I think we should:

  - accept patches, such as this one, which move things in a positive
    direction

  - not spend a ton of time or reviewer bandwidth on conversions
    throughout the tree

In other words, I'm happy to see patches like this, or little clean-ups
along the way in related areas, but I would be unhappy to see a massive
patch to change all instances from one to the other.

> 1. https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html#Quote-Characters-1

Thanks,
Taylor

Re: [PATCH] rev-parse: fix mismatch quoting of separator in the message

[Junio C Hamano]

Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:

> I agree. But for what it's worth, I think we should:
>
>   - accept patches, such as this one, which move things in a positive
>     direction
>
>   - not spend a ton of time or reviewer bandwidth on conversions
>     throughout the tree
>
> In other words, I'm happy to see patches like this, or little clean-ups
> along the way in related areas, but I would be unhappy to see a massive
> patch to change all instances from one to the other.

Oh, absolutely.  But let's not accept a small patch that swaps one
bad style `--' to another bad one `--`, which does not improve
anything.